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The clouds blew from the moon and light streamed down, and I finally saw what I was facing. It looked like a wolf . . . if wolves grew to two hundred pounds. A massive black wolf with green eyes fixed on me, assessing, considering.
"Okay," the girl said. "It's backing away. Everything's o--"
I glanced over and she stopped short. She was a little younger than me. Tiny, with reddish-blond hair and blue eyes. I swore I could smell fear waft off her. The wolf smelled it, too, and bristled, growling at me.
"No," she said, then again, firmer. "No. It's okay. Everything's okay. We'll just let it leave."
The wolf growled again.
The girl's voice rose. "I said we'll let it leave, Derek. It's not attacking us and I don't want it getting hurt if we can help it. You, either."
The werewolf--Derek--snorted and gave me a look that said he considered personal injury highly unlikely. My hackles rose and I drew back my lips. He seemed to take that as a challenge, shifting forward, almost swaggering, like a schoolyard bully, certain his smaller target will back down. I considered it. For the sake of making nice, I should retreat. Surrender. Submit. But that was weakness and everything in me rebelled at the thought. So I held my ground.
"Derek."
The girl's voice was low, annoyed now, and it was almost comical when he shot her a sheepish look. He turned back to me. Considered. Took another slow step--
"No!"
The familiar shout hit with an equally familiar sonic boom of force. It knocked the werewolf off his feet. The girl let out a shriek and ran forward. Daniel raced through the trees. The wolf scrambled up and swung around on him.
I sprang between them. I lowered my forequarters and let out a snarl, fur standing on end. That made the wolf stop. He stared at me. Then his gaze lifted to Daniel behind me. I snarled again.
"The cat--" the girl said.
"Is not a cat," Daniel said. "Like that's not a wolf."
"Y-yes. I mean, no, he's a hybrid. Part-wolf, part-dog. I--"
"He's a werewolf," Daniel cut in. "And she's a skin-walker, another kind of shape-shifter."
"She . . . ?"
"A friend of mine. Like he's a friend of yours. And I'm going to ask you to back him off. Can you do that, Chloe?"
The wolf's head shot up at the name.
Chloe. The necromancer. That made sense. The other girl was a witch and would have tried a spell by now.
"So you understand me. Derek, right?" Daniel moved up beside me as his voice took on that special tone. "I'm going to ask you to take a step back. Maya will do the same. I'm sure she hasn't attacked you or tried to attack Chloe, so there's no threat here, right?"
The wolf snorted and looked at me.
"Don't even think about it," Daniel said, an edge creeping into his voice. "You attack her? You attack both of us."
The wolf snarled. They locked gazes. When it was clear neither was backing down, Chloe came forward and grabbed Derek by the scruff of the neck.
"Come on," she said. "Please. Just step away." She looked at Daniel. "You're on his territory, which is never good with a werewolf. Your friend--Maya--startled him, even if she didn't mean to. Plus he really doesn't like you knowing our names."
"Well, I do know them, which shouldn't come as that big a surprise. Do you really think a couple of kids with supernatural powers are going to accidentally stumble on you? We were at the house earlier. I'm sure Derek smelled us. We were waiting in the forest until morning
to make contact, so we wouldn't spook you."
I chuffed.
Daniel shot a smile over at me. "Yeah, that one didn't work out so well."
"All right," Chloe said. "We're backing up. Right, Derek?"
